Freeport Journal-Standard from Freeport, Illinois • Page 1

Weather Outlook Mild Wednesday (Details On Page 8) FREEPORT JOURNAL-STANDARD 129th Year, 18 Pages Freeport, Illinois, Tuesday, February 24, 1976 15 Cents COSTA RICAN FOREIGN MINISTER Gonzalo Facio, right, smiles with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Monday at the end of airport ceremonies welcoming Kissinger to the country. UI'I Photo. Kissinger Reviews Negotiations On Sensitive Panama Canal Issue SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (UPI) Secretary of State Henry Kissinger today turned to a review of the sensitive Panama Canal negotiations before winding up his six-nation Latin American tour and flying back to Washington. Two years ago Kissinger and Juan Antonio Tack, then foreign minister of Panama, signed an eight-point agreement to begin talks- on control of the canal.

Tack now is Panama's chief negotiator and the two men planned to discuss the progress of the negotiations today in their first-meeting since the Reagan Revisits Tampico TAMPICO, 111. (UPI) Ronald Reagan shared the stage with his boyhood friends and teachers today and said, "You could get bathed in a warm bath of nostalgia." An estimated 1,500 persons, almost twice as many as the town's population, packed the Tampico school gymnasium to give Reagan an extremely warm reception on his first return in 20 years to the town of his birth. Reagan was born above a bank in this northwestern Illinois town of 880 in 1911. After his reception in the gym, he made a pilgrimage to his old home. The first floor, now the Village Hall, has been designated Honorary National Headquarters of Reagan for President.

During the reception, he answered eight questions, including one from a little girl who asked if he would come back to Tampi'co if he wins the nomination. "Right now, I am going to make a promise," Reagan said. "Not only will I come back if I am nominated but I'll come back I win." The remark brought the house down. Reagan also told a story about his childhood and his friend Harold Winchell, who was present. He said he and Harold both lived above stores and one day they found a shotgun in a closet.

Reagan said they put the gun on the floor butt down. Suddenly it went off and "opened up a hole about this big in the ceiling." He spread his arms full length to indicate an enormous hole. "White-faced parents came up the stairs to see what had happened and found he and I sitting behind a Sunday School quarterly trying to pretend nothing had happened," Reagan said. agreement was signed Feb.l, 1974. Kissinger, whose arrival in Costa Rica was marred by leftist student demonstrations, is on the final day of an eight-day tour his first diplomatic mission through Latin America.

Today's agenda included private meetings with the foreign ministers of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Kissinger also scheduled a helicopter tour of Guatemala to examine some of the areas destroyed by a series of earthquakes earlier this month that killed more than 20,000 persons. The secretary's earlier stops includ- ed Venezuela, Peru, Brazil and Colombia. Kissinger received an extraordinarily warm welcome upon his arrival Monday, with Foreign Minister Gonzalo Facio praising him as "one of the greatest architects of peace." Negotiations over the Panama Canal are based on "points of departure" noted in the 1974 agreement, including changing the current treaty to end the United States' permanent sovereignty over the Canal. The Panamanians want the new treaty, which would have to be approved by Congress, to set a fixed expiration date on U.S.

control. DANIEL SCHORR, CBS NEWSMAN, left, confers with his attorney, Joseph Califano, after It was announced Monday that Schorr, who leaked a document on the CIA to a newspaper in defiance of a Congressional order, was relieved of his reporting duties pending resolution of investigations into his role in the UPI Photo. Panel Wants To Find Who Told Dan Schorr By VERNON A. GUIDRY Jr. Washington Star WASHINGTON The House Ethics Committee is talking to the Justice Department about using Federal Bureau of Investigation agents as congressional investigators to find out who leaked the secret House intelligence probe report to CBS newsman Daniel Schorr.

MISSING SINCE THURSDAY, E. E. Hawley, leu, and Clarence Owens are the targets of an extensive serach being conducted througout the area. Stephenson County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a number of calls suggesting possible circumstances surrounding the dlsappearence. (See related story on page 4.) A Justice Department spokesman confirmed the discussions.

"They are exploring the possibility, but there has been no formal request," he said. The House Ethics Committee held its first meeting on the Schorr issue Tuesday. Since last week, the department arid the FBI have been looking at the last two issues of The Village Voice weekly newspaper containing excerpts of the House Select Committee on intelligence to see if their contents warrant federal prosecutory action. They are looking for, and so far apparently not finding, a broken law. "There is no other investigation going," maintained the department spokesman.

The day of the first publication, President Ford offered the House "all the services of the executive branch" to track down the leak. House speaker Carl Albert, replied soon after he did not plan to accept the offer. Schorr has acknowledged he passed the report on for publication. That has placed him in a more-than-awkward position with his employer, and it has made things uncomfortable for the journalists group that was going to receive the financial benefit from publication of the report, a Washington-based group called the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The group also has hired a lawyer because of the disclosure.

Monday, Schorr was suspended, although he is still on salary. Soviet Deficit Piles Up By HENRY S. BRADSHER Washington Star WASHINGTON The Soviet Union piled up a record foreign trade deficit of $4.7 billion last year, will have another substantial deficit this year, and now may push Western governments for larger subsidized credits, according to a CIA study. Although import orders are still being placed, Soviet officials apparently are under instructions to trim or postpone foreign purchases whenever possible, the study of Soviet hard-currency trade says. And "some hard decisions" on restricting imports will become necessary if exports be increased substantially.

"Moscow is known to be pressuring Western governments to increase imports of Soviet products to redress current trade imbalances, as well as stepping up efforts to raise loans," the study says. By picturing Moscow in a weak position of needing credits, the CIA study could revive the issue of whether Western countries should help the Soviet economy and, if so, on what economic and political terms. Government-guaranteed credits for the Soviet Union at special low interest rates in the past have been controversial in the West. The study by the CIA's Office of Economic Research was published at a time when other agency analysts are revising their estimates of the Soviet economy to show a far larger military burden than previously thought. That burden is considered by some analysts to be a major factor in economic problems that contribute to the need for foreign credits.

A CIA study made public less than a year ago found the Soviet Union in a strong foreign aid position, and therefore not in great need of credits. Admitting surprise about recent trade deficits, the new study finds the opposite. Last year's study said a record for eign trade deficit of $1.7 billion in 1973 had been turned around for a surplus of about $1 billion in 1974. It suggested that the Soviet Union did not need Western credits desperately but found it profitable to take advantage of subsidized interest rates while deferring the sale of raw materials whose value was inflating. The new study says that, instead of a surplus, the Soviet Union ended 1974 with a deficit of $912 million.

Much of this was caused by a rise of imports in the last quarter of the year. Imports continued to increase last year machinery was up 70 per cent in the first six months over the same period of 1974 while "export growth (was) limited by recession in the West," the study says. About $1 billion was added to the 1975 deficit by the beginning of massive new grain imports. The Soviet grain harvest was only 140 million metric tons last year instead of" a planned 215 million, and some 30 million tons are being imported now to help fill the gap. Existing orders for grain to be delivered during 1976 will add some $3 billion to the Soviet trade bill, the study says.

"If additional orders are placed in the United States, as is now anticipated, grain imports could rise by another $1 billion." It adds that "machinery and equipment imports may also exceed 1975 levels," which were estimated at $4 billion. The study does not make a projection of the 1976 deficit, but other government sources estimate a gap of some $5 billion. The study notes that "since mid-1974, Moscow has secured roughly $11 billion from Canada, France, Italy, Japan, The United Kingdom, and West Germany" in subsidized credits. In December, 1974 the U.S. Congress voted restrictions on such credits for Moscow, and the Soviets angrily scorned U.S.

governmental loans. "The Soviets recently visited U.S. bankers, reportedly to arrange additional large-scale financing for future Soviet purchases in the United States," the study says. According to other sources, the Soviet Union is mining some $1.6 billion of gold a year at current prices. The study says Moscow sold less than half its 1974 gold production, earning about $750 million, and may have sold some $1 billion worth last year.

East European countries tied to the Soviet economy in the Council of Mutual Economic Cooperation (COMECON) have fallen into proportionally larger foreign trade deficits than the Soviet Union in' the past year. They have had to pay inflated import prices while selling less in the west. Communist countries have generally had good credit ratings in the West. But last year North Korea became the first one to fail to meet debt payments. In Today's Paper There is one section to today's paper.

Page Area news 3,18 Classified 17 Comics Editorials Local news 4 Markets 8 Obituaries 8 Social news Sports news Television highlights 11 Brezhnev Raps U.S. Rejection MOSCOW (UPI) Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev sharply criticized the United States today but promised detente would continue and Moscow would seek ever better relations with Washington. Brezhnev warned, however, Moscow will oppose the United States if it interferes in the affairs of other countries, and denounced as "deplorable" an American rejection of Soviet arms limitation offers. Speaking firmly in a marathon keynote address delivered standing to 5,000 delegates at the 25th Communist Party Congress, the 69-year-old party general secretary urged an end to the arms race and said the Soviet Union "has not the slightest intention of attacking anyone." He proposed an international treaty banning force- in solving disputes and called for four-power guarantees to secure the borders of Middle East countries.

At home, he returned to two well- worn themes the needs for better consumer goods and an improved agricultural performance. It was no good Russians having three pairs of shoes if the quality was bad, he said. The Soviet leader urged an improvement on last. year's disastrous grain harvest. "We can do it," he said.

Brezhnev's attacks on the United States were primarily in the area of arms limitation and policies toward third world countries. Referring to Soviet suggestions a ban should be placed on the American Bl bomber and missile-carrying Trident submarines as well as an similar Soviet weapons Brezhnev said: "Deplorably, these proposals were not accepted by the U.S. side." But he said they would remain on offer. Brezhnev hailed the achievements of five years of detente as of "truly everlasting significance," saying "detente has become the leading trend, the main outcome of our party's international policy." Relations with the United States, he said, had taken a "turn for the better" and decisively reduced the danger of nuclear war. But in what analysts took to be a reference to the Soviet-American confrontation over Angola, Brezhnev said: "It is no secret that some difficulties stem from those aspects, of Washington policy, which jeopardize the freedom and independence of peoples and constitute gross interference in their internal affairs on the side of the forces of oppression and reaction.

"We have opposed and will continue to oppose such actions," Brezhnev said. The Soviet Union has accused the United States of sending aid to African factions in Angola that were backed by South African troops. The West charged the Soviets tunneled massive arms assistance and arranged for 12,000 Cuban troops to fight alongside the Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which now virtually controls the former Portuguese colony. Having made his point on U.S. "interference," Brezhnev said, "I want to emphasize once more that the Soviet Union is firmly determined to further improve Brezhnev looked healthy and spoke firmly on foreign affairs before 5,000 party delegates at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.

Occasionally stopping to sip water, he delivered the first section of the speech in two hours. Brezhnev resumed on domestic affairs after a 40-minute break. Freeport Park District Studies Referendum On Tax Increase Freeport Park District voters may get a chance to decide whether they want a tax increase for the district. The park board will meet at 7:30 tonight to discuss whether a referendum on a tax increase will be held. The meeting will be held in the Read Park Pavilion and the entire board and staff are expected to attend.

The possibility of increasing the tax rate was raised last week by park director Steven Riser after a drop in the assessed valuation of Freeport Township became known. Without a tax rate or fee increase, or financial help from the state, the park district will receive about $38,000 less in revenue for fiscal year 1976-77, which begins April 1. If the board decides to go ahead with the referendum, it will probably be available on the ballot for the March 16 primary election, Riser said today. Any referendum will probably be stated in the form of two questions, one asking if the corporate tax rate should be increased, the other if the recreation tax rate should be increased. Besides the possible $38,000 decrease in revenue, the district may face a $29,000 increase in expenses if it pays for continued services no longer financed by the federal Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA), Riser said.

The current tax rate is 37.40 per $100 assessed valuation. Riser said about a 5-cent increase would be needed to cover the drop in revenue due to the decrease in assessed valuation. If the Park Board does not make up for the loss in revenue due to the assessment decrease, it will have to cut back park services, Riser said. Japanese Conduct Raids Linked To Lockheed Scandal TOKYO (UPI) Japanese authorities today raided the offices of Lockheed Aircraft Corp. and 26 private homes and businesses looking for documents linked to the Lockheed bribery scandal.

Authorities said the raid included a search of the offices of the Marubeni Trading Lockheed's agent in Japan, and the homes of two recently. resigned Marubeni executives. They also rifled files at the home of rightist lobbyist Yoshio Kodama, alleged to have received $7 million from Lockheed to promote sales of their aircraft in Japan. The authorities said 380 officials carried out the early morning raid to collect documents in an investigation of suspected violations of the foreign exchange control law and tax evasion. The raid is the latest development in a growing scandal touched off three weeks ago in Washington by Lockheed executives who testified before a congressional committee that their company paid $12.6 million in fees and bribes to Japanese businessmen and officials.

Last week, the Japanese parliament heard testimony from seven witnesses allegedly involved in the scandal, including Kenji Osano, a close friend of former Prime Minister KakueiTanaka, four top executives of Marubeni and two officials of all Nippon Airways, operator of Lockheed's L1011 Tristar giant jetliners. PRESIDENT ANWAR SADAT of Egypt, left, and King Khaled of Saudi Arabia, with traditional Arab swords In their hands, take part In an Arab-style dinner-dance In Riyadh late Monday. Sadat was In Saudi Arabia for two rounds of talks with Khaled as Egypt moved Into the final 89 miles the Slnal Desert. Reports circulated that Khaled would give Sadat $1 billion in all to buy weapons and shore up the sagging Egyptian economy. UPI Photo..